Hey all,

My wife and I are both artists up in Williamsburg Brooklyn, and are considering a move to NL/Fishtown/Kensington (I work in Philly - telecommute). We've got an 8 month old kid, and we'd like to talk to any couples living in those areas - especially Fishtown/Kensington - about how they handle education, the prospects for the public schools now and in the future, if there are any family get-togethers etc.

Our network of artist families up here is pretty tight, with lots of weekly hookups, happy hours etc, and we're hoping to hook into/start something similar.

We've talked to some families in NL, and have gotten a pretty good idea of how things would be there (e.g. not too shabby). About Fishtown/Kensington, I have no idea.

We've got other stuff planned - we'd like to start a gallery again (I ran one here in W'burg in the mid 90's-2000), we need studio space, etc - which is why Fishtown/Kensington is on our radar.

But our main question at the moment is, we know there are lots of creative folk doing stuff in that area...are there any creative families? What are you folks up to?

Any random thoughts/info would help enormously.

TIA,
Colin

hey
i dont have a family so i cant really comment
but i do have some friends who live in the area (fishtown) who arent from here (i'm sure there will be someone commenting about how the local children arent the types you want to raise your children around) and thier kids are doing just fine.

i know theres a guy that posts over on www.fishtown.us who's got some kids...he and his wife used to live two doors down from me and they just recently bought a place somewhere else in the neighborhood. theyve got (i think) two kids...you might want to post over there and ask

there are the normal concerns that go with raising a child in the city (public schools, its easier to get into trouble, drugs, crime etc.) that i think a lot of people will claim are reasons not to raise your child here, but i think youre smarter than to assume that just because a child is being raised in an area where trouble is more easily accessible, theyll get into it.

like i said...im sure there are plenty of families (i see kids in the rocket cat cafe all the time and there are toys in there for kids to play with so, its probably a safe assumption that there are families around) its just a matter of finding them
post on fishtown.us and welcome (potentially) to the neighborhood

Thanks, polishcowboi. The concerns you mentioned are all things we're thinking about, of course, though the school quality - and where it's headed, what parent involvement is like, etc. - tops that list - the other stuff I'm not quite as worried about.

For context, W'burg was a bit grittier when I first moved here - shootings on our front step, a guy living in my car, cars getting torched weekly outside my studio - so I've been there. I just haven't been there with a kid and now W'burg is a completely different (unaffordable) animal.

I know there was a NL charter school initiative of some kind, that was rejected, and under reconsideration(?). What's the status of that now?

And thanks for the PMs, folks - they're really helpful!

Hi there - we're Fishtowners thinking of kids in the future, but it looks like we'll be moving to the 'burbs. I always imagined raising our children in the city, but after getting a taste for the kids in the neighborhood, I have changed my mind 100%. Best wishes to you, though!

Ah the ubiqutious "burbs". Having grown up out there, I can say that the kids are bad in a different way. Fishtown has some rough and tumble jerk kids, and the suburbs have rednecks and coke snorting kids. Both of these images are generalizations, because both areas also have their majority population of decent children being raised by normal people. The negatives just stand out more.

Either way your kid is going to be exposed to serious pressures, many with very serious consequences; that's school, that's life. What really counts is the parenting. However, our school district has been in a financial crisis for a long time and the average public schools are still getting the short end of the stick, so you should give charter/magnet schools a shot.

Hopefully by the time your kid reaches school age things will stabilize more, but I think that attentive parents can raise a good kid in fishtown, just as well as in the burbs.

couldnt have put it better myself
i was raised here
as were the majority of my friends
and we're all pretty decent, working, and a lot of us college educated, home owning, non drug using individuals

At least by appearances, kids in Fishtown are truly a surly bunch. I do think the kids in NoLibs seem less gangsta-like. Fewer long white tees, hats turned sideways, etc. Fewer groups of roaming teens, for what its worth. I don't know if that helps. I'm not sure what the kids are like in the southern portion of Kensington.

Thanks, folks.

My wife is a public school teacher on the Lower East Side in NYC, so we're no strangers to the trials and tribulations of public education. The kids you describe don't really sound all that much different from kids anywhere in Brooklyn.

That said, I'm a product of private education, and my wife of a suburban school system. So I'm just trying to suss out what the public school experience would be like for our kid, among the choices available in the area. We know we can send him to a Friends school, etc. but I just want to get a better picture of what's out there. I read through the thread on schools, headed up by Niel (very informative!).

Anybody sending kids to schools in any of these three neighborhoods right now, charter or otherwise? I'm curious about parent participation in particular with the schools - and anybody who goes to PTA meetings, I'd love to hear from.

Check out the parenting and education forum.

The one thing NoLibs has going for it is that it is in the Center City catchment for public schools. That means, if you don't want to send your kid to the local public, they get priority for remaining slots at the other public schools in the catchment. Lower Kensington might also be in the CC catchment...Fishtown definitely is not. I think the district website has information on the catchment area.

For example, NoLibs public school isn't so hot (Kearny), but the school in Queen Village (Meredith) is regularly regarded as one of the best in the city and could probably hold up in comparison to many good elementary schools in the burbs too. Since Meredith is in the CC catchment, NoLibs residents who wanted their kids to go there would get priority along with other CC parents in the catchment but not in Meredith's specific zone. Albert Greenfield is another highly toughted elementary school in the CC catchment. It serves Rittenhouse Square and environs. McCall serves Society Hill and Chinatown...I believe they teach Mandarin to all kids beginning in the 1st grade.

That being said, there is a fantastic charter school in NoLibs. It is called the Laboratory Charter School. It is a small K-8 school where almost 100% of the kids score not just proficient, but advanced in all subject levels. I think Independence Charter School is highly regarded too.

Penn Sadie Alexander School is all the rage now. It is a Penn affiliated K-8 school in West Philly. New building. Subsidies from Penn. Teacher support from Penn. It has become the hottest thing since sliced bread since the new building was completed two years ago. Young parents are bidding up prices of houses to get in there.

I also hear of Frankford Friends as being a reasonable (cost wise) public school alternative. Costs run about $5000 as opposed to $25,000 at other friends schools. I've heard only positive things about it. I don't think it would take long to get to Frankford Friends from either Fishtown or Lower Kensington.